


Rock-a-bye, baby

by SepticStache



Series: Unus Annus mishaps [2]
Category: Video Blogging RPF, markiplier - Fandom
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Choking, Fainting, Gen, Near Death Experiences, Panic Attacks, Unconsciousness, Unus Annus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-22
Updated: 2020-03-22
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:09:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23261503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SepticStache/pseuds/SepticStache
Summary: "What if I go in head first?""I think that that's a bad idea."Usually Ethan could trust his gut feeling.Today's video ended up proving his theory, but he never imagined it to end up with him almost losing his friend to a stupid water balloon.
Series: Unus Annus mishaps [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1672609
Comments: 7
Kudos: 104





	Rock-a-bye, baby

Mark found himself, yet again, stuck in the same bathtub as before, his girlfriend once again filming him and his friend doing stupid crap for their shared channel.  
The bathtub had been a reoccurring recording space and Mark was still wearing his face tattoo, some leftover make-up still stuck under his eyes, barely visible.  
It had been Amy's idea to film this video and since they still had some balloons left from the helium video, which they ended up not using, they decided to do this.  
He had no idea how his girlfriend came up with this, but it was weird enough for Unus Annus. Not to mention that he would like to distance himself from the video they just recorded. He still regretted shaving his beard.

Mark never imagined that he would find himself in this situation; sitting half-naked in the bathtub with his friend, his hair doused in vaseline, shoulders aching, while he was trying to worm his way into a giant, blue water balloon.  
In no way, shape or form, was this a good idea, especially the way he was doing it. Ethan was right, this could go bad real quick. But Mark was committed and he was still getting air through the snorkel, so it wasn't too bad.

The vaseline almost made it too easy to get into the balloon, but he should have lubed up his arms and shoulders as well. The rubber of the balloon was getting stuck on his damp skin and compared to his head, it took some maneuvering to get the balloon to go down to his upper chest.  
The thick material of the balloon pressed against his ears, but he could still hear the muffled sound of his friend's laughter next to him.

"Rock-a-bye, baby, in the treetop,  
when the wind blows, the cradle will rock…"

For the sake of the video, he started squirming around in the balloon, wanting to make it look like some sort of demon trying to escape from its confines. He couldn't tell what he looked like from the outside, but the obvious smile in Ethan's voice told him that it seemed to work.

"When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall,  
and down will come baby, cradle and all…"

Thanks to his movements, the snorkel had somehow found its way around and over his shoulder, the end barely sticking out under the rubber on his back.  
He was finally able to stretch the material of the balloon enough to get it to go down to his abs, the blue rubber now engulfing more than half of his body. He heard his girlfriend's remark about him looking like he was part of the blue man group, making him smile in return.  
Ethan seemed to be done with singing and Mark heard movement to his right, indicating that the other was most likely reaching for the discarded "feeding tube". 

Mark was soon rewarded for his guess with a burst of fresh air through an opening in the rubber, created by Ethan, lifting the balloon from his sticky skin and pushing the tube inside.  
He couldn't actually reach for the tube since his movement was limited, the hard plastic just awkwardly pressing into his collar-bone.  
The snorkel no longer helped him breathe, the mouth piece was nowhere near his mouth and the tube was stuck against his side, the balloon too tight for it to fall out.  
Mark continued to play demon baby, his voice lowered and asking Ethan to feed him, but in reality he started to feel a bit light-headed. 

He wasn't full on panicking yet, but the burst of oxygen from a few moments ago was nowhere near enough to feed his slightly oxygen starved brain.  
He tried to pull away the rubber from his face a bit more, the material stretchy enough for his arms to reach out in front of him, the rubber stretching thin and letting through more light.  
He was able to look down a bit, seeing the opening of the balloon stuck tightly around his chest, the tube sticking out from underneath.  
The space inside the balloon was so small that a handful of gasped breaths took in the last bit of available oxygen, and Mark could tell that carbon monoxide was filling the space instead.

He was beginning to feel seriously dizzy now, his muscles suddenly acting on their own, hands pressing against the rubber, nails trying to puncture the balloon. Panic was beginning to set in, the rest of his body joining in and twisting around, trying to get out.

Suddenly he felt hands on his chest, Ethan's, trying to help him pull up the balloon over his head, but the rubber was stuck to his skin.  
He started to sweat, which made it even harder to move, and now he was starting to hyperventilate, his lungs aching for every available oxygen atom in the air around him, his heart racing.  
He heard himself ask for someone to cut the balloon, no longer caring that the thick material might snap and seriously injure him in the process.

He just needed air.

Mark felt his body move to the right, most of his muscles falling limp to sacrifice any oxygen left for his heart and brain. In his panic, he had tried to sit up, but the slick porcelain of the bathtub and the murky water he was sitting in, caused his knees to start slipping out underneath him.  
His coordination was completely fubar, he could barely tell that his friends were somewhere in front of him. Though he could still tell that he was falling backwards.

The world had gone dark before the back of his head hit the rim of the bathtub...

During his brief moment of unconsciousness, Mark was unaware of the panicked reaction of his friends. 

He didn't notice Ethan jumping into the already cramped bathtub, pulling his upper body against his chest and holding his head above water, calling his name.

He didn't notice Amy dropping the camera and rushing towards the box cutter on the edge of the bathtub, handing it to Ethan with shaking hands.

He didn't notice the rubber being pulled away from his chest and the box cutter puncturing the balloon.

He did notice the rush of oxygen into his brain and the following adrenaline, cursing through his body. His mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water, his aching lungs quickly taking in all the air they could get.

Soon enough his hearing was coming back, and his eyes finally opened.  
His sight was blurry with tears and water, his eyes slightly stinging from the vaseline.  
The feeling of warm skin against his back kickstarted his brain, and he immediately tried to sit up, his tired body almost toppling over again.  
Hands caught him before he could faceplant into the water in front of him, and as he looked up, he was met with the concerned look on Amy's face.  
She was still shaking, not as bad as Mark was, mind you, but she started combing her hands through his sticky hair, her heart rate calming down again.

Mark closed his eyes in exhaustion, just listening to the sound of sloshing, lukewarm water around him and the feeling of his friend's arms pressed against his chest and the racing heart inside his ribcage.

After everyone had calmed down again, they were quick to move and get him out of the tub, Ethan supporting Mark's rubber like limbs. The oxygen started to reach his muscles again, but his knees were still too wobbly to stand on their own. Amy pulled a large, fluffy towel around his upper body and helped Ethan sit him down on the outer edge of the bathtub.  
No one spoke during the whole process, still too shocked and thinking about what could have happened if they didn't get him out in time. 

Amy sat down next to her boyfriend, not caring that her clothes were getting wet from the water, which now covered most surfaces in the bathroom due to Mark's struggle to get out of the balloon. She took his hands into hers, pressing a kiss against his left cheek, feeling him lean into her touch.

Ethan let the couple have their privacy, standing up on his own slightly wobbly legs, and started packing up the camera equipment, picking up the camera Amy had dropped in her effort to help Mark.  
Looking back at Mark, who was still pale from lack of oxygen and fear, he promised himself to never let the other do something as reckless and stupid as this, ever again. Losing his friend over some stupid video, was not worth the risk.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed this angst filled fanfic :D  
> I'm still working on my other series, don't worry, I'm just super busy with finals right now and therefore don't have a lot of time to write.


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